16 | National News BY NATION REPORTER County administrations have been cautioned against evicting public officers from government houses. County governments should follow due process, Transition Authority chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi said yesterday. “TA takes cognisance of the fact that county governments are in need of housing. TA, however, cautions against evicting the current occupants of the government houses without following the proper procedures,” said Mr Wamwangi (right) in a press statement. He urged the county and national governments to maintain the status quo until a criteria for transfer and sharing of public assets and liabilities was established through public participation. “County or national government agencies that wish to transfer public assets during this transition period should apply to TA in the prescribed manner detailed in legal notice No 45 of 2013,” said Mr Wamwangi. He said housing was a shared function between the two levels of government, adding that TA had already developed the criteria for transfer and sharing of public assets and liabilities and this would soon be subjected to public participation. He said the TA was compiling an inventory of all government assets and liabilities, including government houses to provide clarity in their transfer to either level of government. DAILY NATION Thursday May 8, 2014 Governors warned against evicting officials in wrangle over houses “TA in collaboration with the of- fice of the Auditor General will be auditing and verifying government assets and liabilities as per the MoU we entered into,” he said. The law only allows the transfer of immovable assets with the approval of the TA in consultation with the National Treasury, Commission on Revenue Allocation and Cabinet secretaries responsible for matters relating to intergovernmental relations and land, Mr Wamwangi added. CLAIMS | Reforms ‘have stalled’ Disband land agency, urge lobby groups Swazuri-led team accused of failing to address squatter problem and land grabbing BY BOZO JENJE @bjenje bjenje@ke.nation.com T he National Land Commission should be dissolved for failing to address thorny issues, according to lobby groups. The lobbyists say the wrangles between Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and NLC chairman Mohammed Swazuri are slowing down reforms in the land sector. Yesterday, Mr Shamsan Nagib of Kenya Land Alliance proposed the formation of a ‘People’s Land Commission’ to replace NLC as it was incapable of addressing the squatter problem. Kenyans were tired of the bickering between Mrs Ngilu and Dr Swazuri (right), Mr Nagib told a forum to debate land reforms at Royal Court Hotel in Mombasa. He said the dispute had hampered efforts to address land problems in the country. Community Bill “We want regulations and the community Bill in place and not Press statements which don’t offer solutions to the major land problem.” Mr Nagib called for the vetting of Ministry of Lands staff to weed out corruption that “has affected land services”. He accused the government of protecting land grabbers and lacking commitment to sort out land conflicts. “The government should allocate the Lands authorities adequate funds to enable them to execute their man- 60,000 The number of title deeds so far issued at the Coast date. The Sh200 million allocated is not sufficient,” said Mr Nagib. Ujamaa director Patrick Ochieng said land problems were political and should be tackled politically. “We have a politician in charge of the Lands docket. This was done deliberately to serve the interests of the political class and not the poor squatters,” Mr Ochieng said. He urged NLC to publish the land register in the media so that title deed holders could be known to the public. He regretted that the com- mission had failed to offer guidance to the handling of land grievances at the Coast despite their unique nature. “The NLC should act on the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report on land,” Mr Ochieng said. NLC deputy director of land and administration Edith Olando, however, said land reforms had started well because the first step was to implement institutional development. “It has not been easy to do so with the scarce resources available while there was a need to devolve services to the counties,” Ms Olando said.